Underbelly mowers are of the type wherein a mower deck is mounted beneath the frame of a tractor or motorized vehicle principally between front and rear wheels of the vehicle. These are very commonly manufactured and used.
A principal drawback of such mowers is that they are difficult to maintain and clean because of the location of the mowing deck and the difficulty in getting it raised for such maintenance. In order to get to the underside, the mower deck is traditionally disassembled from the tractor and then ungainly pulled from beneath the frame in order to free the deck of the frame raised on one side or the tractor itself must be raised so as to balance on the rear to give access which is both somewhat unstable and often difficult to accomplish because the mower and even the mowing deck are heavy.
It is therefore desirable to have an underbelly mower that allows a user to raise one side of the deck while still under the mower frame to allow access to an underside to perform cleaning, repairs or the like and while the mower is in a comparatively stable position. Since the mowers are heavy it is also desirable that a device providing mechanical advantage be used to lift the mower to reveal the underside of the deck. Further, it is desirable to use the device providing mechanical advantage to both lift the mower for maintenance while also alternatively controlling the cutting height of the heavy deck. Still further, it is desirable to provide structure that allows a user to quickly and easily disconnect an end, preferably the rear end, of the deck from a main frame of the mower so as to allow the deck to rotate or swing on the opposite side to further expose the deck underside for maintenance and then quickly and easily reconnect the deck to the frame after maintenance is complete.